


Day Four: Promise

by rizahawkaye



Series: Royai Week 2017 [4]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Cute Kids, F/M, Friendship, Funny, Longing, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 11:56:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11147901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rizahawkaye/pseuds/rizahawkaye
Summary: Riza's favorite days are the ones she spends with her General and the Elrics.





	Day Four: Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Ed and Al were probably off exploring the world when I wrote this. (Okay, I just don't wanna admit that I was too lazy to write them in, whatever.)

“Promise you guys will come visit me?” Roy asks.

“Yes, sir,” Riza huffs.

“Say it.”

“I promise we'll come visit you, sir.”

“There’s no turning back now,” Winry smiles as Riza sets the phone back on its receiver. “You should have known he’d be eager to see us.”

“Roo loves to see me,” Owen says, tugging at Riza’s fingers. She gives him a soft smile and wraps her hand around his.

“Yes,” she says.

“So,” Winry clasps her hands together. “We have to be on our train by 2:00 and it’s noon now.” Riza steps out of the phone booth with Owen. He’s practically vibrating in place with excitement as he says, “So we get to go see Roo right now?”

“Sure do,” Winry tells him.

They make their way to Central headquarters under the weight of the blistering sun. Children are dousing the streets with buckets of water so they can play without burning their toes, and merchants are standing outside businesses handing out free cups of lemonade to anyone who beckons for them. Riza’s hair is sticking to the back of her neck, mingling with her sweat, and she thinks absently about chopping it off again. She reaches a hand behind her head and touches the thick locks, suddenly grateful for the airy sundress Winry had insisted she wear for the day. Summer breezes in Central were rarely cool, but Riza still relishes the feeling of the fresh air bounding about around her bare shoulders, her legs.

“Mommy, can we get some ice cream?” Owen points his finger at a large cone-shaped sign that has "ICE CREAM” painted over it in bold pink letters. “Ice cream!” His baby sister repeats from her perch on Winry’s hip. She tosses a chubby hand in the sign’s direction.

“I don’t see why not,” Winry tells them as she turns on her heel for the shop door. Riza’s hand is abandoned by Owen's the second his eyes find the buckets of ice cream seated neatly under a plastic hood. He presses his face against the clear window and says, “I want chocolate.”

“Chocolate it is,” Winry says as she ruffles his hair. Riza retreats to a small table at the back of the room that’s placed directly under an A/C vent. She leans back in her chair and lets the cold wash over her until it starts to spark goosebumps on her skin. She feels dangerously close to drifting off into sleep until Owen climbs into her lap and offers her a taste of his ice cream. She opens her mouth willingly and lets him spoon-feed her while he giggles about how silly it is. “It’s like you’re Annie and I’m Daddy,” he laughs. It’s all mild fun until Riza pretends he’s given her a brain freeze and Owen chuckles so hard he almost tips off her thighs.

“Be careful, Owen,” Winry laughs as she wipes ice cream from Annie’s chin.

“Careful, Brother,” Annie echoes her mom.

Riza’s laugh is subsiding as Owen twists on her lap to face the table. He’s scraping the last bit of his sweet treat out of his paper cup when Riza wraps her arms around his waist and rests her chin on his head. She’s okay with never having children of her own, she thinks, when she’s with Winry and her family. She’d spent so many days with them when she was reassigned to the east with Roy years prior that she and Winry had become close friends. Riza had been in the east for Owen’s birth, for Annie’s. She’d joined the Elric-Rockwell wedding as a bridesmaid, and when she and Roy moved back to Central after Roy’s promotion to General, Winry took any and all opportunities she could to visit.

Riza smiles against Owen’s hair and says, “I’m glad you guys are here.” Owen pats her knee and says, “So are we.”

Headquarters isn't far from the ice cream shop and Riza appreciates that. She feels recharged, ready to tackle the summer sun after her cold air bath and all the ice cream Owen had fed her. She wipes the back of her hand across her mouth to be sure there was none of the sticky stuff stuck to her and waits out the few minutes it takes for them to reach the steps leading to Central’s doors. “Riza, can you carry me up?” Owen grips her arm and gives her a toothy grin, one he knows she can’t resist because it reminds her of his father, and she lifts him up and fits him to her hip.

“You are a sucker for him, Riza,” Winry laughs. Sure am, Riza thinks.

“Captain Hawkeye,” A young MP salutes as he pulls a heavy door open for her when she reaches the top of the stairs. Riza and Owen salute him back.

“Captain Hawkeye is so cool,” Owen says as he wiggles his feet against Riza’s side and soaks up the atmosphere of the Central hub. “I can’t wait to see General Roo.”

“He can’t wait to see you,” Riza hears his voice and pivots around on her heel. He’s standing behind her with his hands in his pockets and a smug smile decorating his face. She ignores the way his eyes drink her in. “You’re getting big, Owen!”

“Roo!” Owen says, sliding down Riza’s legs. Roy picks him up and slings him onto his shoulders the way he always has. Riza used to caution him against it, and Edward would whine, "That's my job, you dumbass." Owen always seemed to giggle the most when on top of the world, though, so eventually the protests stopped.

“What’re you doing out of the office?” Winry teases him. “Always avoiding work when your Captain isn’t here, huh?”

“Aw, don’t call me out like that,” he says, feigning nervousness. “My Captain is standing right next to you.”

“It’s no secret, sir,” Riza says. She closes her eyes for a moment, moves her bangs from her face.

“Hey,” Roy says, tipping his head to look up at Owen. “I heard you say my Captain was cool, and I was wondering if you think I’m cool too?”

“Hm,” Owen hums. He places his cheek against the top of Roy’s head and says, “She’s cooler than you, Roo.” Riza and Winry laugh, and few nearby MPs snicker as well.

Roy puts on his best pout and says, “Why’s that?”

Owen lifts his head to smile at Riza, and her heart skips a beat. He cups his hands over his mouth and whispers into Roy’s ear, “Daddy says she’s always packing.”

This time it’s Roy who laughs. “That she is. Although, there’s not much room to hide a pistol in that dress.”

“Inner thigh,” Owen says, giving Riza a thumbs-up. Riza returns the gesture and nods back at him. "That's right," she says.

"If I didn't know any better, Owen, I'd say you know my girl better than I do," Roy says.

" _Your_ girl?" Owen pulls back, raises an eyebrow. He sticks his thumb to his chest. "We shared ice cream."

"There's only room for one man in this heart of mine, General," Riza swallows a chuckle, Winry's snickering beside her.

"Hm. Then I guess I'll just have to...eliminate the competition," Roy says as he bends backward and loosens his grip on Owen's legs. Owen lets out one sharp shriek and grasps at Roy's shirt before Roy swiftly pulls himself upward again and Owen's laughing harder than he had in the ice cream shop. Riza's heart stalls in her chest for a moment as she watches her General do what he's done a thousand times before with Owen. She touches the holster at her thigh, then runs her hand up over her stomach to her chest.

She's aching for something, she knows.

Her feelings dissipate as fast as they had come, however, when Roy says to her, "Thanks for keeping your promise, Captain."

He's aching too, she thinks.

Owen stretches his hands out towards his favorite Captain and Riza takes him from Roy eagerly. "To the office!" He says, pointing in a random direction that was definitely not where the office was located. Riza smooths his blonde hair out. "To the office," she says.

"Hey Roo," Owen coos from over Riza's shoulder. "She looks pretty in her dress, doesn't she?"

"Doesn't she," Roy repeats.

**Author's Note:**

> Owen calls Roy “Roo” bc as a toddler he couldn’t say “Roy” and it’s v easy for little ones to coo and make that “oo” sound. Roy loves it.


End file.
